Results tagged “cuny”

The Daily News reports on a disturbing CUNY report: "During their first math class at one of CUNY's four-year colleges, 90% of 200 students tested couldn't solve a simple algebra problem...Only a third could convert a fraction into a decimal. The lack of math skills means the CUNY students - nearly 70% of which come from city schools - could struggle to keep up with peers, fail classes or even drop out, the professors charged." City College Professor Stanley Ocken said, "These results are shocking. They show that a disturbing proportion of New York City high school graduates lack basic skills."

An audit by the State Comptroller's Office has found that five CUNY colleges failed to report 73 percent of the felonies that occurred on their campuses, as required by law. The most ironic offender? John Jay College of Criminal Justice, which failed to report 19 of its 20 felonies.

The move by Stella D'oro to close its Bronx bakery after a judge ordered its striking union workers reinstated is raising questions about the strength of unions in today's economy. With tough times all around, it seems unions are facing uphill battles to get public support. A NY Times story today on the strike's aftermath includes an interview with CUNY history professor Joshua B. Freeman, who notes, "A lot of people are hurting right now, and sometimes you look at someone else and they have a job and they’re resisting making a concession and you think, ‘These people seem to be sitting pretty, what are they complaining about?’" Indeed, the Stella D'oro strikers had a hard time even getting noticed—as the Daily News observes today, "news media virtually ignored the story of this largely immigrant workforce. In a town that prides itself as the heart of organized labor, the other unions were AWOL." While unions may be suffering in the economic climate, the workers appear to be bearing the brunt of this harsher labor environment. Stella D'oro worker Richard Pererira, 51, sums it up for the Times this way: "I feel cheated...All these years we worked so hard, and now they want to shut us down. That’s horrible."

It's time to run down the various commencement speakers around town—please let us know about others in comments (or email us at tips[at] gothamist[dot]com). This Wednesday, New York University will have its commencement at Yankee Stadium—and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will give the commencement address. Clinton will also be the commencement speaker at Barnard College's ceremony next Monday.

The NY Times reports the City University of New York has developed a "120-page blueprint for the community college of the future—specifically, a 5,000-student Manhattan campus that would be New York City’s first new two-year institution of higher education in 37 years." Because graduation rates at community colleges are low, the blueprint would require students to enroll full time, with "Majors would be limited to about a dozen fields with robust job opportunities, including health care and environmental technology." CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein says that the community college “capacity will be severely tested in the coming year" (CUNY 2-year college enrollment is up 31%) and CUNY, facing cuts from city and state budgets (leading to proposed tuition hikes), is trying to raise money from other sources, like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

As a way to help struggling New Yorkers, the NYC Department of Consumer Affairs, City University of New York and Daily News are offering a week of free financial advice. The Your Money Helpline has more than 200 experts who will be able to answer topics like, "How to cope with credit card debt," "How to get financing for education," and "How to deal with mortgage problems." The Daily News says the experts come from "the City’s Office of Financial Empowerment, banks and credit unions, financial industry associations and participants, city agencies, CUNY's business, finance, and economics faculty, staff and student financial aid experts and other trained volunteers." Call 212-330-6505 for help in English and 212-330-6506 for help in Spanish.

A reader sent us a scan of a flier she found at NYU's student center, "It’s a flier for a NYU financial aid plan that basically tells students that can’t afford NYU to go to CUNY," and points out it's crazy that "NYU can’t give its students decent financial aid even though John Sexton flies to Abu Dhabi every other week and we keep buying new buildings all over the city." The school's tuition is around $50,000.

As part of his plans to close the budget gap, Governor David Paterson proposed a $600 tuition hike at City and State University of New York schools. Naturally, students are not taking this well and the Post has some sad quotes. From Queens College student Lilliana Ramnath who works part time at a medical office and is a single mother: "I think I'm going to have to take a year or two off, at the very least. I just won't be able to provide for my son and continue studying." From York College student Lisa Perez, who works at a "bank to support herself and her grandmother": "I really don't know what my options are going to be. But I just don't have an extra $600 sitting around." Food for thought: CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein recently received a $55,000 (+14%) raise and makes $450,000/year.

It's never been a better time to be a nerd in CUNY's Honors College; besides the free tuition, the free admission to dozens of institutions like the Metropolitan Opera and the Museum of Modern Art, the braniacs now get to take classes at a fancy four-story brownstone on the Upper West Side. The university bought the Gothic revival Steinhardt Building (pictured) from the 92nd Street Y and started holding seminars there this semester. According to the Times, this is the first Manhattan outpost for the Honors College, which this year accepted 320 new students out of 3,200 applicants. For reference, first year students in the program have an average SAT score of 1399.

Among the many cuts making up Governor Paterson's latest request that $1 billion be cut from the state budget is one to cut $51 million from the City University of New York. That amounts to a 7% cut, which is in line with the cut the SUNY system is making. CUNY told the Daily News the cut is "very significant" and it's unclear whether tuition will be raised, but added "We have an obligation to work diligently to minimize the impact on the academic program." So far, per the Wonkster, Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos said, "It’s important that the Governor and Legislature not take any actions that would force local governments to raise their local taxes to make up for a shortfall from Albany," while Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver simply said the Assembly will "review" Paterson's wishes. Here's a breakdown of Paterson's proposals.

Today, timed with the NY State Commission on Higher Education's release of a report about higher education, the NY Times reports Governor Paterson will ask "the Legislature to create a low-cost student loan program to make New York more competitive with other states." The report outlines concerns about the SUNY and CUNY schools maintaining quality with insufficient funds--the two systems have more than 600,000 students over 87 campuses. You can read the whole report (PDF) here.

Controversy is swirling around a course offered at Hunter College that an untenured professor says he was pressured to “teach.” The course was paid for last year by the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition [IACC], an industry group combating the proliferation of cheap counterfeit clothes, jewelry, accessories, etc.